Ronin Rebellion Review – Rewrite Japanese History

The Japanese development studio with the characteristic name Team Ninja has been giving us demanding action games with an emphasis on intense hand-to-hand combat for many years, requiring not only quick reactions and strong nerves. Among their most famous series, we can note the games Ninja Gaiden or Nioh, the second part of which can very safely be considered among the best representatives of the soulslike genre. For their latest game, they decided to significantly increase the scale and narrative, thanks to which they offer us their first open-world adventure, reminiscent of the Assassin’s Creed series. In addition, this world tells a very ambitious story, significantly branching and non-linear. Of course, there is also a traditionally high-quality combat system or a loot flow.

• Platform: PS5
• Publication date: 03.22.2024
• Manufacturer: Team Ninja (Japan)
• Genre: Open world ARPG.
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: yes (co-op play up to 4 players)
• Data for download: 96 GB
• Play time: 40+ hours
• Price: 1799 crowns (Alsa)

The Tormented Path of Ronin

In the second half of the 19th century, the shogun decided to end Japan’s period of isolation from the rest of the world and open the country to visitation and cooperation with foreigners bringing new goods, technology and weapons. With this came new problems, and perhaps new diseases, which, coupled with the general threat to traditional Japanese sovereignty and culture, were very hard on some sections of society, who subsequently resisted – both foreigners and the ruling shogun. The result was years of bloody rebellion and repression. And it is during this period that you join as one of the twins whose village is destroyed, and you and your brother are subsequently trained as the “Veiled Blade”, an elite fighting pair of samurai.

One of the game’s big selling points is its overall emphasis on player choice, which translates into the ability to customize the appearance of both twins entirely to your liking (including the gender of both siblings). After the tragic events of the game’s prologue, you’re left as a lone Ronin, relying only on yourself, and set off to wander a vast land torn apart by increasingly bloody unrest. During your travels, you’ll meet historical figures from both sides of the conflict, and you’ll have to decide which one to side with – you can even try playing for both sides at the same time (with the appropriate consequences). What the game absolutely must leave behind is a sense of true freedom and choice, whether it’s how you move around the world, the story decisions, or your character’s combat style. There’s a rich selection of costumes and weapons, including transmogrification (the ability to change an item’s appearance).

A sense of freedom and choice in how you move around the world, the story decisions you make, and the combat style you play.

In particular, the initial decision to side with the Shogun or the Separatists was a very powerful experience for me: I literally put the controller down for about ten minutes and stared at the screen, weighing the pros and cons of both sides – not only philosophically, but also with the likeable characters on both sides that I had already gotten to know by then. In the end, I decided to consciously try to change history as much as possible, and in doing so, I joined the side that ultimately lost in the real history of Japan. Although this led to some interesting situations, as well as the deaths of some characters, in the end I still got the impression that the creators are not Quentin Tarantino and are hesitant to really significantly rewrite history – history usually has a tendency to slide into a dead end. designated tracks, with only partial differences.

Blade of the sword

But the studio’s games aren’t usually story-driven. They usually focus on the unusual combat system, and it’s no different here. While somewhat simplified, it builds on the foundations laid down by the Nioh series, and adds a bit of inspiration from other similar games like Sekiro. So the stamina meter plays a very significant role, determining your and your enemies’ ability to throw and parry blows, or jump. Once you or an enemy “runs out” of stamina, you’ll stagger for a few seconds – this is when you can land a special “landing” blow on your enemy. One of the most effective tools is a well-timed counter-attack with the appropriate clash of steel, fueled by adrenaline. There are also tricks or the ability to use secondary weapons, such as a rope with an anchor, throwing stars, a revolver, and so on. A number of missions also have plenty of room for stealth and sneaky executions from behind. The fights themselves are appropriately bloody and brutal, including severed heads.

Timely counterattacks with the appropriate adrenaline ringing began.

While the game offers three adjustable difficulty levels, make no mistake: even on the easiest difficulty level, there will be a few bosses that will really test your reflexes and patience. Especially if you’re up against two very tough enemies at once. Luckily, you also have the option of bringing sidekicks along for individual story missions, either under the control of the AI ​​(which you can switch to and control directly) or accompanied by up to three other online players. As in other Souls games, any problems can be solved by accompanying a more experienced or better-equipped teammate. When it comes to AI companions, it’s important to complete side missions for them, give them gifts, and tell them what they want to hear in conversations – the better your relationship with them, the more assistance bonuses they’ll unlock.

As for the overall handling of the game, it is very functional and here and there will pleasantly surprise you with an impressive landscape view or a dramatic and touching cinematic sequence. However, it is worth mentioning that the noticeably similar 2020 game Ghost of Tsushima managed to set such a high bar for audiovisual design and the general aesthetics of the theme of historical Japan that, apparently, no one will come close to it. Sure, the open world in this game offers many traditional side activities: from clearing out enemy lairs to finding lost cats: these are genre cliches, but they still work if you take care of them. Separately, it is worth highlighting the graphics modes, where in the performance settings the game most of the time stays quite close to the promised 60 frames per second, which significantly improves the impression of the action.